also・too, as well
Structure
- Noun + も
Can も also be used somewhat like と for joining nouns in a string but also still adding the “as well/also” connotation? I guess my example sentence would be-- 私の目も頭も痛い。
I imagine it’s saying- “My eyes as well as my head both hurt”.
But can you use it in a fashion like you would と? Or would it be better to phrase the sentence like – 私の目と頭も痛い？ But I’m imagining this is more like saying - “My eyes and head also hurt”.
To me, the first is saying you have two things that are both hurting you at that moment. The second seems like you are implying your head and eyes hurt in addition to something already implied.
Is this right, or am I reading into it too much?
ぼくもきみも、大人とよばれる年齢になった。
I came across this line from a light novel I’m trying to read. The も〜もabove means “both”, right? I couldn’t find the exact grammar point in Bunpro so I wanted to check.
“Both you and I have reached the age where we can be called adults.”
Hey @camytang ! We apologize for the late reply.
Yes, it could be translated as ‘both’, but a more direct translation is ‘also’, and the same grammar point as this grammar point. A direct translation of the sentence ぼくもきみも、大人とよばれる年齢になった。would be ‘Also you as well as me have reached the age where we can be called adults’. Since that is an unnatural way of saying it in English, translating it as, ‘Both you and I…’ is correct and would not change the nuance of the sentence.
We hope that answers your question!
1 Like
Thank you very much! I appreciate the answer!
Just started. Not sure how reviews work. My first one, I got right but doesn’t seem to be way to log that or move on to next review.???
Not directly related to も particle, but in one of the examples 彼女 was referred to as “she”. Doesn’t it mean girlfriend or a friend who’s a girl?
Both, it’s dependent on context
-
あの彼女は何をしているかな | “What is she doing I wonder”
-
彼女からプレゼントをもらった！ | “I got a present from my girlfriend!”
- if the previous sentence had included someone’s name or other context that specified a person, and that person was not your girlfriend, the 彼女 would then refer to that previously mentioned person and take on the definition “she”
-
メアリーは優しいい人だ。彼女がよく保健所で手伝うらしい。| “Mary is a nice person. It seems she often helps at the animal shelter”
Etc.
I’m a bit confused by this example sentence, 車ははやい、でも危ない。I thought でも meant “but” so read this as cars are fast but dangerous. The translation given is cars are fast and also dangerous. How can I distinguish between the two uses of demo?
1 Like
The translation is wrong could stand to be clearer, and you are correct.
車が早い、でも危ない
“The car is fast but dangerous”
車が早くて危ない
“The car is fast and dangerous”
車が早い、も危ない
“The car is fast, and also dangerous”
車が早くても危ない
“It is dangerous even if the car is fast”
1 Like
I wouldn’t say it’s outright wrong.
“The car is fast, but dangerous” the car is still both fast and also dangerous. The difference is that one implies a negative attribute.
Yeah good callout, I was just about to update to mention that technically you can make the case that “but” and “and” are pretty similar in function in this case. But it seemed a little too “extra”
1 Like
Thank you so much both! Language can be so subtle. It was the implied negativity with “but” vs additional statement of “also” that threw me. So interesting. Thank you for the examples, gives me a better overall understanding of the sentence construction and your responses are much appreciated!
1 Like
車は速い、でも危ない。
The translation given is: “Cars are fast, and also dangerous.”
Isn’t this wrong?
As far as I know でも expresses contrast (but / however / nevertheless / even so), and not simply additional information.
Therefore to me that sentence reads as “Cars are fast, but dangerous”
The point of that sentence being there in the first place was to show that も retains it’s meaning even when combined with other particles, but if they wanted to show this it should have been for example through the construction で+も.
バスでも車でも行ける ＝ We can go either by bus or by car. (We can go by bus as well as by car.)
2 Likes
Regarding the sentence “車は速い、でも危ない” , I went ahead and did some more digging:
I went and checked “A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar”, page 111 (でも).
The description of this grammar point is "The te-form of desu + mo “even”, example sentences:
先生でも間違う・間違います。
Even a teacher makes mistakes.
私は難しい仕事でもする・します。
I will even do a difficult job.
ここからでも富士山が見える・見えます。
Even from here you can see Mt. Fuji.
Notice that in all 9 example sentence this でも always follow a noun, or a particle as in the case of からでも, which makes sense because if we wanted to use this “even” with an i-adjective it would turn into ても, for example:
安くても美味しい。
Even if it’s cheap, it’s tasty.
So let’s go back to the sentence 車は速い、でも危ない.
If you really want to force this でも meaning on it would be
車は速くても危ない。
Even if cars are fast, they’re dangerous.
Here ても is concessive (“even if / even though”), not additive, so the “and also” translation to me appear to be wrong either way.
Ironically it would have the meaning “and also” when you remove the も:
車は速くて危ない。
“Cars are fast and (also) dangerous.”
The other option is that the でも used is the one you can replace for が (but), so if we open “A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar” at page 122, it says:
Daga, dakedo, demo, shikashi and keredomo express the same idea as ga.
However, the first four cannot make compound sentences like が does; they must occur at the beginning of a sentence.
So if we take the comma after 速い in the original “車は速い、” as marking a pause to which follow the start of a new sentence, then the meaning has to be “but”, “Cars are fast, but dangerous”.
So either way, the options are that the sentence means “even if” and is grammatically incorrect because that is not how you follow a i-adjective with でも, or it means “but” and then the english translation “and also” is not literal, but wrong.
Please if you have some reliable reference material that irrefutably shows otherwise, present it to me.